Neurocysticercosis appears to be on the rise in the United States, based on immigration patterns and published cases series, including reports of domestic acquisition. We used a collaborative network of U.S. emergency departments to characterize the epidemiology of neurocysticercosis in seizure patients. Data were collected prospectively at 11 university-affiliated, geographically diverse, urban U.S. emergency departments from July 1996 to September 1998. Patients with a seizure who underwent neuroimaging were included.

OBJECTIVE: Significant benefit could be realized by developing a clinical decision rule for new-onset seizure victims that would be capable of discriminating between patients having relevant structural lesions visible on computed tomographic (CT) imaging and those who do not. This study sought to determine whether a reliable decision rule could be developed using a limited number of clinical and demographic characteristics.